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MR. GRAY'S JOURNAL,
IN A LETTER TO DR. WHARTON, OCT. 18TH. 1769, PUBLISHED IN THE
MEMOIRS OF HIS LIFE BY MR. MASON.
I HOPE you got safe and well home, after that troublesome night
[1]. I long to hear you say so. For me, I have continued well,
being so favoured with the weather, that my walks have never once
been hindered till yesterday (that is, a fortnight and three or
four days, and a journey of more than 300 miles.) I am now at
Aston for two days. To-morrow I go to Cambridge. Mason is not
here; but Mr. Alderson receives me. According to my promise. I
send you the first sheet of my journal, to be continued without
end.
Sep. 30. A mile and a half from Brough, where we parted, on a
hill lay a great army [2] encamped: to the left
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[1]
Dr. Wharton, who had intended to accompany Mr. Gray to Keswick,
was seized at Brough with a violent fit of asthma, which obliged
him to return home. This was the reason Mr. Gray undertook to
write the following journal of his tour for his friend's
amusement. He sent it under different covers; I give it here in
continuation. It may not be amiss, however, to hint to the
reader, that if he expects to find elaborate and nicely turned
periods in this narration, he will be greatly disappointed. When
Mr. Gray described places, he aimed only to be exact, clear, and
intelligible; to convey peculiar, not general ideas, and to paint
by the eye, not the fancy. There have been many accounts of the
Westmorland and Cumberland lakes, both before and since this was
written, and all of them calculated to please readers who are
fond of what they call fine writing: yet those who can content
themselves with an elegant simplicity of narrative, will, I
flatter myself, find this to their taste; they will perceive it
written with a view, rather to inform than surprise; and, if they
make it their companion when they take the same tour, it will
enhance their opinion of its intrinsic excellence; in this way I
tried it myself before I had resolved to print it.
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